After Arizona’s reign ended with an upset loss to UCLA on its homecourt, the spot was open for the taking. And as one of the nation’s most consistent teams in the past month, Oregon was waiting patiently to ascend to the top spot. The Wildcats are still ranked higher than the Ducks in the AP poll, No. 8 compared to No. 10 — the first time the Pac-12 has had two top ten teams since the final poll of 2008 — but in these rankings, it’s Dana Altman’s crew that has taken a stranglehold of the conference.

1. OREGON (18-2, 7-0, Last week: 2)

There are few people who would argue with putting Oregon on top, as so many of the conference’s coaches have already acknowledged that the Ducks are in the driver’s seat for the Pac-12 title. After all, Oregon took care of the conference’s three of the four other Tournament-caliber teams in Arizona, UCLA, and Arizona State, while Colorado still awaits. The Buffs may be the only thing standing between Oregon and a regular season title.

2. ARIZONA (17-2, 5-2, Last week: 1)

Arizona is still one of the best teams in the Pac-12, but are they really worth a top ten ranking? Maybe. Maybe not. We saw against UCLA what the Wildcats are when Mark Lyons is struggling — had zero assists and five turnovers against the Bruins — and without freshmen taking on bigger roles like UCLA’s freshmen have this season, Arizona may not be the class of the Pac-12 when the season is done. That being said, with weapons like Solomon Hill and Nick Johnson getting hot at the right times lately, few teams in the conference will give Arizona pause.

3. UCLA (16-5, 6-2, Last week: 3)

I questioned for a second whether the Bruins deserve to be ranked higher than Arizona State, which beat them in Tempe last Saturday by a pretty serious margin. But one look at the resumes of both schools, and it’s pretty clear that UCLA has earned its 16 wins a lot more than the Sun Devils have. Larry Drew II showed that he might be the team’s most important player when the Bruins upset Arizona on the road — the program’s first win over a ranked team on that team’s court in almost half a decade — commanding the offense like he never has before. If he can get more consistent with that field general presence, Shabazz Muhammad continues to score at an impressive clip, and Kyle Anderson continues to pull down rebounds, then the Bruins will be in it till the end.

4. ARIZONA STATE (16-4, 5-2, Last week: 4)

Isn’t it about time we give Arizona State the respect it deserves? The Sun Devils have been doubted and doubted again this season, as they’ve put together an impressive 16 wins already — six more than Herb Sendek’s squad had all of last season. A lot of that has to do with the play of freshman Jahii Carson, but it’s senior Carrick Felix that has impressed me the most. The guy literally does everything and gave Muhammad fits on Saturday in Tempe. Will the Sun Devils consistently win against good teams, which they haven’t had to do all season? We may not know until the end of February when they take on UCLA and Arizona in two of three games.

5. COLORADO (14-6, 4-4, Last week: 6)

The Buffs had fallen pretty far in the past few weeks, having lost four of five at one point. But with three straight wins, Colorado seems to be back on track. Still, for Colorado to truly compete for a Tourney spot, it’s going to take at least two wins in four games against top opponents, as two matchups with Oregon and one matchup with Arizona await. Andre Roberson is still pretty inconsistent — like the rest of the roster — but he’s Colorado’s best hope to shine and help the program make the Dance for the second year in a row.

6. STANFORD (12-8, 3-4, Last week: 7)

The conference’s upper tier continues to far outweigh its lower tier, and this spot, again, is where things start to get dicey. The argument could be made for Washington to take this spot, but the Huskies are freefalling and Stanford is the only team, along with Cal, that seems to be firmly locked in the middle of the Pac-12. The Cardinal has beaten everyone — except for Washington — that ranks below them on this list, and with Chasson Randle starting to string together consistent performances, Stanford seems like the more sure bet in the middle.

7. WASHINGTON (12-8, 4-3, Last week: 5)

Who knows what to think about Lorenzo Romar’s squad, as the Huskies went from being one of the Pac-12’s hottest teams — winners of eight out of nine — to being in the doghouse — with three straight conference losses, two of which came to Pac-12 bottom dwellers. It doesn’t help that C.J. Wilcox’s shooting as gone awry and point guard Abdul Gaddy’s command of the offense continues to be mediocre at best. The Huskies still have a lot of time to prove themselves with matchups against Oregon, UCLA, and Arizona remaining, but with little momentum to build on, it might be too little too late.

8. CALIFORNIA (11-8, 3-4, Last week: 8)

The Golden Bears have only beaten teams below them in these rankings, and it’s fairly obvious that they just aren’t good enough on both ends to make much of a splash in the Pac-12. Star guard Allen Crabbe hasn’t really shot well since the new year began, and with so much of the team’s offense predicated on how the backcourt of he and Justin Cobbs performs, Cal just hasn’t had enough firepower to compete. Consider that the Bears haven’t even played the conference’s top tier of talent yet, and it’s pretty easy to come to the conclusion that this might just not be Cal’s year.

9. WASHINGTON STATE (11-9, 2-5, Last week: 10)

Washington State has done its part in beating the team’s below it in the conference standings, ensuring that the Cougars don’t end up in the conference cellar. They’ve also improved on defense since the conference season began, which could help them earn some wins at home later in the season. But offense is still a problem, and without a good win on its resume, Washington State hasn’t really been able to establish any sort of momentum since the non-conference season. And it may only get worse from here, as the Cougars face off with both Arizona schools, Oregon, and UCLA in the next two and a half weeks.

10. USC (8-13, 3-5, Last week: 11)

The Trojans’ schedule, the third-strongest according to KenPom.com, was almost unfair for a team that didn’t have a ton going for it in the first place. Since a brutal non-conference slate ended though, USC has only loss game that it had the talent to win — against Cal — and otherwise has played against some more tough competition. I think we’ll see the Trojans pile up some wins as they go through a four-game stretch that includes trips to the Bay Area and Washington, where they could potentially leave with four wins. Still, an eight-win team, no matter how good it looked in close losses to Arizona State and Oregon, needs to do more to move up in these rankings.

11. OREGON STATE (11-9, 1-6, Last week: 9)

Oh how far the Beavers have fallen. With just one win in-conference coming from a struggling Washington team, Craig Robinson’s team just can’t seem to buy a break with all but one of their Pac-12 losses coming by 10 points or less. If Roberto Nelson can shoot more efficiently, the team may recover a bit on offense, especially given Eric Moreland’s skill down low and on the glass. But with the majority of its remaining games on the road and little optimism coming out of Corvallis, it would quickly spiral into a throwaway season for Oregon State.

12. UTAH (9-11, 1-7, Last week: 12)

The Utes did manage an impressive victory over the same flailing Washington team, but it’s abundantly clear that this team is too young and too inexperienced to really challenge anyone in the conference. Playing in Salt Lake City could help the Utes knock off a few unsuspecting Pac-12 squads that are overlooking them, but Utah is looking pretty comfortable at the bottom.

Ryan Kartje is a sports features reporter, with a special focus on the NFL and college sports. He has worked for the Orange County Register since 2012, when he was hired as UCLA beat writer. His enterprise work on the rise and fall of the daily fantasy sports industry (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/industry-689093-fantasy-daily.html) was honored in 2015 with an Associated Press Sports Editors’ enterprise award in the highest circulation category. His writing has also been honored by the Football Writers Association of America and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Ryan worked for the Bloomington (Ind.) Herald-Times and Fox Sports Wisconsin, before moving out west to live by the beach and eat copious amounts of burritos.

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